


Road Games

by paupotter_4869



Series: The Most Important Thing. . . [2]
Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Games, Road Trip, Silly, Silly Games, ellie slowly making her way into joel's heart, joel slowly but gradually letting her, joel's SO fed up with her but he's having the time of his life with ellie, road games, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27816628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paupotter_4869/pseuds/paupotter_4869
Summary: I don't remember rule #4 being I cannot speak at all!In which Ellie tries to kill time during the trip, much to Joel's dismay. Begrudgingly, he plays along, too.
Relationships: Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Series: The Most Important Thing. . . [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033674
Kudos: 35





	Road Games

**Author's Note:**

> All credit to Naughty Dogs. I do not own anything.

Adjusting his grip on the rifle, ready to fire it at the first sign of danger, Joel kept looking all around. Never losing his focus, he never had trouble spending hours at a time in silence, just one step after the other, with one goal: fulfilling the mission and return back home. This particular mission was taking an extraordinary amount of time, patience, and resources, but it was another mission nonetheless. 

He walked on, high alert, checking the area—every corner, every shadow, every window—for any threats, humans and Infected alike. There was never a dull moment, wasn’t there. Always looking above one’s shoulder, sleeping with an eye open. 

And now he was traveling cross-country with a teenage girl who barely had any knowledge about the outer world, without any self-preservation instincts. The risk was twice as big and Joel’s needed to be twice as hypervigilant as he usually was to protect the girl. Bill was right on that account, and that account only—this was a messy job Joel had taken with Ellie. Of course, he hadn’t taken it, in the first place. And after Tess, he was in no position of shrugging the girl away or sending her back, failing Tess miserably at the same time. 

On the other hand, the girl didn’t make it easier for him, either. 

“One. . . Two. . . Three. . .” 

Joel turned right on a corner and looked over the shoulder to Ellie. She was looking all around her, too, but not she did not see the streets the way Joel did. It seemed she didn’t see, or didn’t understand, the danger. As if she’d learned nothing the past few days. 

“Four. . . Five. . .” 

“What on Earth are you doing?” Joel demanded with a growl. 

“Counting,” she said. “I learned it in school, you know. Six. . .” 

“You don’t say. And. . . What’re you counting exactly?” 

“Aha!” Ellie exclaimed. “That’s the game, right? Seven. . . You have to guess.” 

“I ain’t playing,” Joel scowled, shaking his head, trying to focus back on what was important, such as, getting them both out of this city _alive._

“Eight. . .” Ellie kept going nonetheless. 

Joel tried to tune her out and went back to checking the shadows and corners nearby. It would soon be nightfall and he would like to be out of the city before then. Tess and so many of her crew used to prefer missions that took them to the former metropolis around the US. Easier to spot a threat or something out of place amongst known streets, they said. Joel wasn’t too sure, yet. A clicker was easy to distinguish from birds chirping, a river running, or the leaves crunching under his feet. 

Bottom line was, there was no safe place at all, and traveling cross-country with a teenage girl was, perhaps, the most dangerous mission he’d ever taken. 

“Eleven. . . I’m going to keep going, you know?” 

“Of course, you are,” growled Joel, throwing her a side look. “You _do_ realize we’re supposed to keep it low, don’t you? Not attract enemies or give away our position?” 

“That’s twelve. . .” 

“Ellie,” he scowled. 

“What? I don’t remember rule number 4 being ‘I cannot speak at all’ during the trip,” argued Ellie. 

“Should have included that one,” Joel uttered under his breath, half-hoping the girl wouldn’t hear him. If she had, she didn’t react at all and kept counting whatever it was she was counting. 

Startled, Joel stopped and looked around—baffled and annoyed by Ellie’s little game, he’d got distracted and almost forgotten the road they were supposed to take. He took Ellie’s shoulder and pointed at the right direction. 

“This way. Come on.” 

His treatment and indications weren’t enough to keep her quiet, however. She kept counting under her breath for a couple of blocks, unfathomed by Joel’s lack of interest in her little game, although he had a reaction for her: annoyed. In the end, he couldn’t handle it anymore. With Sarah, he’d played a lot of road games, but nowadays, all that fun had no reason to be. 

“If you like games so much, why don’t we play the “how-long-can-you-keep-quiet” game?” he suggested. 

Ellie snorted at the idea. “Nice try. That makes twenty. . .” 

Knowing she truly wasn’t going to stop until she drove him crazy, Joel sighed with resignation. 

“Okay, I’ll bite,” he said, pointing at Ellie to walk behind him, not in front of him. She obliged and stopped counting, eagerly waiting for Joel to play along. “One. . . Two. . . Three. . .” 

“Is it. . . Traffic lights?” Ellie asked. 

Joel shook his head. “One. . . Two. . .” 

“Hold on, why are you starting over?” the girl demanded. 

“One. . .” 

“Do you understand how the game works?” 

He shrugged and started his counting again, inviting Ellie to guess—that was the purpose of the game, after all. Frowning, she sighed in frustration, and Joel appreciated being able to annoy her in return for a change. 

“Six. . . Seven—hey, look, we’ve got a record,” he couldn’t help but add. 

“What’re you going on about?” 

“Aaaand you spoiled it,” scowled Joel, shaking his head dramatically. “Are you ever letting me get to ten?” 

“Oh,” she whispered when it finally dawned on her. 

She stopped walking, a bit baffled by Joel’s tricking her, and just to confirm her suspicions, the man started his counting again. This time, he really made it: ten seconds of silence from Ellie. No questions, no jokes, no whining, no complaining, no whistling. She couldn’t stand any longer, though. 

“That’s not fair! That’s cheating!” 

“Keep your voice down,” Joel reminded her, although he did have the smallest of smiles on his face—provided that, by standing in front of Ellie, she couldn’t see it. She did step forward to kick him playfully on the arm, and he groaned under his breath, massaging the sore area. 

“Cheaters forfeit,” scowled Ellie, controlling her volume, now. “It’s my turn.” 

Her reaction made Joel let out a chuckle, as he kept looking up and down the road, expecting menaces to show up at any moment. Truth was, this trip across the country sometimes ceased to feel like a mission or a job for the Fireflies, and at other times, it actually became somewhat amusing. Infected and many other threats lurking notwithstanding, of course. 

They kept walking for a few minutes, covering about five more blocks. A gentle breeze rose as Ellie counted on and on, accompanied by one growl from Joel at every figure she uttered. He kept both eyes on the streets ahead and yet, now and then, he indulged Ellie by trying to guess what she was counting—birds, letterboxes. . . 

At some point, reaching the outskirts of town, Joel pointed at the road they were supposed to follow. Ellie came to a halt, her counting stopped, too, after she’d reached forty—or maybe fifty, Joel wasn’t too sure. He spinned in his heels as well, in case she’d detected a threat he’d missed, but Ellie just turned around to stare at the town now behind their backs. 

“There are no more,” she said. 

Her voice was so blue, Joel cleared his throat, a bit nervous and mournful, too, because of her reaction. He stared at the same empty, deserted, silent street. With their track record, it was short of a miracle they hadn’t had any incidents at all today. He just hoped their luck wasn't going to run out tomorrow. 

She didn’t seem willing to keep going, however. With a deep sigh, Joel gave in, unable to deny the girl such a simple, harmless pleasure amongst the utter misery of today’s world. 

“Was it. . . Traffic signs?”


End file.
